With the development of third generation mobile communication (3G) technologies, a novel wireless router is proposed, for example, mobile wireless fidelity (Mobile WiFi). A conventional wireless router accesses the Internet through a network cable interface and generally does not need to move, while the Mobile WiFi mainly uses a 3G wireless technology to access the Internet and is convenient for mobile use.
Currently, some operators not only operate a 3G network, but also may operate a WiFi communication network. The WiFi communication network provides hotspot coverage, which generally may cover a range of tens of meters, with a high speed (e.g., a network speed may reach tens of megabits per second) and low tariff; while the 3G network has wide coverage, which may cover an entire city or country, but with a relatively low speed (e.g., several megabits per second) and high tariff. In an uplink (e.g., from a terminal to a network) direction, the Mobile WiFi is connected to the Internet through the 3G network. In a downlink (e.g., from a network to a terminal) direction, the Mobile WiFi provides WiFi access, so that equipment (e.g., a mobile telephone or a portable computer) having a WiFi client or a WiFi station (WiFi STA) function may be connected to the Mobile WiFi through the WiFi client, or provides a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, so that a terminal (e.g., a portable computer) having a USB interface may be connected to the Mobile WiFi through the USB interface, so as to access the Internet indirectly through the Mobile WiFi.
In order to achieve WiFi offload, the operator hopes that after entering a certain WiFi communication network, a user of the Mobile WiFi can automatically switch to access the WiFi communication network through a WiFi hotspot and to access the Internet through the WiFi communication network, and switch back to the 3G network only when no WiFi hotspot exists nearby. Through such an offload technology, the operator may implement centralized coordination of two types of network resources, for example, offload some users from a congested 3G network to the WiFi communication network and save a network access tariff for the users.
A common solution is to add a “WiFi station” module to the Mobile WiFi. In this solution, in the uplink direction, a user equipment accesses the WiFi communication network through the Mobile WiFi and accesses the Internet through the WiFi communication network. However, this solution fails to make full use of the WiFi capability of the user equipment.